Vodafone: How Private Networks Enhance Regional Connectivity

Leading telco company Vodafone has been recognised as a leader in the inaugural 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for 4G and 5G Private Mobile Network Services.
For the Magic Quadrant report, 14 companies were evaluated on their ‘Ability to Execute’ and ‘Completeness of Vision’. Vodafone was identified as being furthest to the right on the Completeness of Vision axis.
Jennifer Didoni, Head of Cloud, Edge and MPN Portfolio for Vodafone Business, said: “We are delighted to be named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant. Building, operating and fixing networks is in our blood.
“We can draw on our 40-year pedigree as a technology communications leader to provide organisations with dedicated and secure connectivity over multiple geographical regions where privacy, performance and real-time responsiveness are crucial.”
The news comes shortly after the Vodafone and Three UK merger was officially approved by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Moving further into 2025, the decision is expected to unleash even greater levels of market competition and investment across the telecommunications sector, as leading companies seek to continue transforming the telecoms landscape.
The power of private networks
Vodafone’s Mobile Private Network Managed Services monitor and support the critical infrastructure of its customers 24-hours a day, seven days a week. This support ranges from its engineering and innovation hub, to successfully deploying private mobile networks with its advanced management approach.
With this in mind, the telco is able to harness its private networks to ensure that its customers can confront and overcome network complexities with tools like careful radio planning to optimise coverage and maximise security. This is vitally important across a network if connecting with the outer public network and off-site end users.
In addition, Vodafone says that bringing together a private mobile network with Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) offers customers secure connectivity and powerful computing from the edge of the network, in places that previously couldn’t be connected.
The company is eager to operate at the forefront of digital transformation, having made some high-profile partner announcements in 2024.
Partnering with leading semiconductor AMD to develop mobile base stations, Vodafone is aiming to reduce radio antenna size, energy consumption and the number of base stations. This is all while continuing to give customers excellent coverage across the network.
The goal remains to enable Vodafone engineers to quickly support new 5G services, in addition to introducing the latest AI algorithms and industry standards. This will mean the telco can boost capacity during busy periods without having to rip out and replace existing hardware.
Vodafone also continued its long-term alliance with Google with a billion-dollar deal that includes cloud, cybersecurity and device strengthening across Europe and Africa.
The extended partnership has been designed to offer new generative AI (Gen AI) powered devices via Google’s Gemini AI models to millions of Vodafone customers across these regions.
Vodafone has also stated it will expand its access to Google’s AI-powered Pixel devices with its fast 5G network in Europe, in addition to continually promoting the Android ecosystem.
A vote of confidence
A Gartner Magic Quadrant is a culmination of research in a specific market, which then offers a wide-angle view of the relative positions of the market’s competitors.
The Gartner view of the 4G and 5G Private Mobile Network Services market is focused on transformational technologies or approaches to delivering on the future needs of end users. It is not focused on the market as it is today.
Private networks work to accelerate digitalisation processes through connectivity that is designed specifically for customer needs. This makes operations more efficient, productive and intelligent.
With such solutions, organisations are able to meet important needs, including higher security, guaranteed end-to-end transmission, mobility and the enablement of a high volume of IoT applications with real-time data transmission, reporting and end-to-end connectivity.
“Private network adoption will significantly accelerate in 2025, with the market projected to reach US$6.4bn by 2026,” explains Sandeep Raithatha, Head of Strategy, Innovation & 5G IoT Products at Virgin Media O2 Business.
“As a result, we will see businesses increasingly adopt private 5G networks for secure, high-performance communication, specifically in industries like manufacturing, healthcare, education and smart cities, which will leverage private 5G networks for secure automation and real-time operations.”
She adds: “When it comes to private networks, we will also see the emergence of network slicing as the next evolution of private networks, enabled by 5G standalone architecture. This technology will allow for the creation of multiple virtual networks on a shared physical infrastructure, each tailored to specific business needs.
“This will provide high-quality connectivity and also empowers organisations to continue delivering exceptional service, while ensuring their connectivity solutions are both scalable and cost-efficient.”
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